Helmsley Trust Awards over $15 Million to Salk Institute and Columbia University for Stem Cell Research Collaborative

Mary Jane Salk, John and Anne Codey

The promise of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells is
about to gather significant momentum, thanks to a $15.15 million
grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust that
the Salk Institute will share with Columbia University Medical Center.
The three-year grant will establish a collaborative program to fast-track
the use of iPS cells in order to gain new insight into disease mechanisms
and screen for novel therapeutic drugs.

"Stem cell research is of immense importance to the future of
biomedical research and will have a major impact in treating and
preventing devastating diseases," said Fred H. Gage, a professor in the
Salk Laboratory for Genetics and holder of the Vi and John Adler Chair for
Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Diseases. "The grant from
the Helmsley Trust will accelerate and deepen our research efforts in stem
cell biology, already an area of strength at the Salk Institute. In addition,
this funding allows scientists at the Salk to join forces with outstanding
researchers at Columbia University in a synergistic enterprise that will
bring stem cell research closer to fulfilling its promise."

The ability to reprogram adult human cells into iPS cells, which by all
appearances look and act like embryonic stem cells, creates a unique
opportunity to study human disease in revolutionary ways. After taking a
few skin cells from patients, researchers can generate iPS cells and
differentiate them into the type of tissue where a disease is manifest.

Along with Gage, Salk scientists Inder Verma and Juan Carlos Izpisúa
Belmonte will develop a stem cell bank of well-characterized iPS cells
derived from patients suffering from debilitating neurological, cardiac
and hematological conditions. These cell-based models of disease will
allow investigators from both institutions to screen tens of thousands of
chemical compounds at Columbia to uncover novel drug therapies for
thus-far-untreatable diseases. The grant will create a pipeline of new
models and molecules that will start with individual patients and create
new avenues back to the clinic.

"The Helmsley Trust is showing great vision by investing in two
scientific groups operating at the leading edge of stem cell research,"
said Salk Institute president William R. Brody. "We are deeply grateful
to the trustees and look forward to a very fruitful collaboration with our
Columbia University colleagues."